July 16, 2005

The World Bank has recently updated its development indicators. Among the indicators updated are the GDP figures and the per-capita figures. According to the updated numbers, India’s $691 billion economy has just overtaken South Korea to become the 10th largest economy in the world (and the 3rd largest in Asia). China has moved into 7th place now with its $1.6 trillion economy. India’s share of the world economy has gone up to about 1.7%, while China’s has gone up to about 4%. The U.S. still dominates the world economy with a 29% share. A look at the top 10 also reveals why the G8 is an anachronism. Russia is not in there. China will probably overtake Italy in the next couple of months. Spain has a larger economy than Canada. And India ought to enter the top 8 in the next couple of years. Among developing countries, Mexico, Russia, Brazil and Turkey also feature in the top 20.

You can also check out where these countries stand if you used PPP to compute GDP. Also online are the per-capita income figures using U.S dollars and PPP methodologies. India does abysmally in both cases with rankings of 159 and 146 respectively, while China ranks at 132 and 119.

Reuben
You say: “And India ought to enter the top 8 in the next couple of years”

Even assuming a 7% growth rate for 2005 and 06, we will be a ~790B economy, nowhere near where Spain and Canada are now. So, unless I am missing something important, it appears that it will be a few years before we crack the top 8.
Yor point re. the anachronism of the G8 is well taken.